The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2014 31 T he Foreign Service Journal is pleased to present our annual Foreign Service authors roundup in plenty of time for holiday orders. Whether you read the listings in print or online, we urge you to visit our online bookstore when a title strikes your fancy. There you will find all the books in this edition, as well as the volumes that have been featured in previous years (www.afsa.org/bookstore ). Below is our annotated list of some of the books written, edited or translated by Foreign Service personnel and fam- ily members in 2013 and 2014. This is not a definitive record of works by FS authors; we rely on the authors themselves to bring their books to our attention. The roundup was assembled with the vital assistance of Assistant Editor Brittany DeLong, Contrib- uting Editor Steven Alan Honley, and editorial interns Aishwarya Raje and Trevor Smith. Our list contains a weighty and wide-ranging history sec- tion, a solid policy and issues section, an array of memoirs, a rich variety of fiction, three photography books and an eclectic potpourri on topics ranging from cooking and long-distance management of real estate to Yemeni silversmiths and micro- controller projects. We also include our customary list of books “of related interest” to diplomats and their families that were not written by FS authors. As has been the case for a decade, a significant portion of the HISTORYAND BIOGRAPHY Mussoorie and Landour: Footprints of the Past Virgil Miedema and Stephanie Spaid Miedema, Rupa & Co., 2014, $42, paperback, 260 pages. In the early 1800s, the British founded twin hill stations in the Indian towns of Mussoorie and Landour, as refuges from the heat and dust of the country’s summer season. Both sites continue to attract many visitors today, thanks to their salubri- ous climate and leisurely way of life. While Mussoorie is more “touristy” and bustling, Landour is a quiet getaway for those seeking a break from city life. Much has changed over the years, but both places retain an old-world charm, adding to their appeal. This book takes the reader on a journey through their history, from the late 18th century—when Frederick Young, the founder of Mussoorie and Landour Cantonment, was born in Ireland— up to India’s attainment of independence in 1947. (A brief post- script brings the story up to today.) The authors, a Foreign Service father-daughter team, lived in India in the waning years of the 20th century and the early years of the new century, where they became acquainted with Mussoorie and Landour. Treasured leisure time there, away from the heat and bustle of New Delhi, combined with an interest in British colonial history, led to this book. A retired FSO with USAID, Virgil Miedema spent more than 30 years in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia and India as a teacher, economic development officer and agro-marketing business- man. He is the author of Murree: A Glimpse Through the Forest (Riverby Books, 2003). Stephanie Spaid Miedema, a social science researcher, recently completed several years of United Nations-funded research in the Asia-Pacific region. titles are self-published. In acknowledgement of this, we have included a sidebar spotlighting some of the recent trends in this new and dynamic corner of the publishing world. Our primary purpose in compiling this list each year is to celebrate the wealth of literary talent within the Foreign Service community, and to give our readers the opportunity to support colleagues by sampling their wares. Each entry contains full pub- lication data along with a short commentary. This year, to showcase the many authors listed here, we will host the very first “AFSA Book Market” event here at our head- quarters building onThursday, Nov. 13, from 1 to 4 p.m. Par- ticipating authors will be here to sell their books and talk with readers who will attend on a “flow-through” basis during the afternoon. Light refreshments will be available. Once again, although many of these books are available elsewhere, we encourage our readers to use the AFSA website’s online bookstore to place your orders. The AFSA Bookstore has links to Amazon and, at no extra cost to you, each book sold there generates a small royalty for AFSA. For the few books that cannot be ordered through Amazon, we have provided alternative links or, when the book is not available online, the necessary contact information. But enough crass commercialism. On to the books! —Susan Brady Maitra, Managing Editor